The claim was that the Church holds much property of value, which is true although what price do you put on the Vatican?
Catholic Chuch property holdings in Australia come to approx $30 billion (AU) and includes many rentals.
Globally there are at least 5,000 properties recently listed in a partial Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See report on real estate holdings (see Reuters and other outlets for that report).
"Trillions" in the GP comment is hypothetical value .. again, how can the many cathedrals be realistically valued .. they are more or less 'priceless' artifacts of cultural heritage .. although the fire at Notre Dame certainly gave us a ballpark on how much rennovations can cost and what will be put up in donations towards that work.
You’re absolutely right that I misread his comment, thanks
Still, my larger point is that while they all follow the pope, they also are all individual groups with their own finances, problems, and goals. The idea that the pope might sell one church to support another, for instance, is not how it could work in reality.
How it has worked, until recently at least, is opaquely with little real oversight into various national chapters or into the more octopus like tendrils of the central body.
It's been only a decade since any real effort has been applied to financial transperancy in the Catholic Church affairs:
Whatever that was or may still be under a new Pope was likely disrupted by the court room adventures of Cardinal George Pell.
> The idea that the pope might sell one church to support another
My read, admittedly a skim some years back, of Catholic Church real estate reports is that church property ownerships are a small part of a larger, much larger, real estate portfolio that includes mueseums, schools, apratment complexes, large historic multi-million dollar houses with spectacular views in Sydney, commercial office complexes for rent, etc.
Catholic Chuch property holdings in Australia come to approx $30 billion (AU) and includes many rentals.
Globally there are at least 5,000 properties recently listed in a partial Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See report on real estate holdings (see Reuters and other outlets for that report).
"Trillions" in the GP comment is hypothetical value .. again, how can the many cathedrals be realistically valued .. they are more or less 'priceless' artifacts of cultural heritage .. although the fire at Notre Dame certainly gave us a ballpark on how much rennovations can cost and what will be put up in donations towards that work.